July 26 "The Trailer of the Transfiguration" (Mark 9:1-13)

Good morning, good morning.

It is uh good to be here in God's house.

How many of you guys are movie buffs?

How many movie buffs do we have here?

You see, I love a good movie and all sorts of movies to your thrillers, your action, your superhero movies, your your comedies, even a good Nicholas Barks chick flick.

I mean, I'm I mean I'm being serious here.

The other day I came home from youth group and I saw my wife watching on Netflix a chick flick, and I was genuinely offended that she did that without me.

And and I just love movies so much.

This this upcoming week I'm hoping to get to go to a movie with some students, and I'm super excited about this movie coming up because I have no idea what is coming.

And I don't know about you guys, but I hate spoilers.

Spoilers are the worst.

And I feel like today a lot of the trailers that we see tend to spoil the whole movie.

Let me tell you, there was this movie, it's called Castaway.

I'm sure you've heard of it.

It's with Tom Hanks and how he gets stranded on this island with his friend Wilson.

And the whole movie is about will this man survive this island and make it home?

And if you have ever seen the trailer for this movie, congratulations, you've seen the movie.

Because this is how the trailer works.

The trailers show the plane crashing, life on the island, how he escaped, how he returned home, and how he re how he re was reunited with the woman that he left behind.

And I wanted to be, you know, I want to be honest with you guys always.

And so I wanted to fact check, make sure.

So I I pulled up the the trailer and I want to show you some of the comments that it says.

This trailer had so many spoilers.

Since when do the trailers give away the entire movie?

This has to be the worst trailer of all time.

Show you the whole movie worse than Netflix.

Friends, a trailer was never meant to give you the whole thing.

A good trailer just gives you a glimpse.

Just enough to get you hooked so that you will come back and watch the whole thing.

And then this morning, we are diving into Mark 9, and we are going to see this amazing thing that is about to happen.

And the disciples, they, they, they, they, they, the, the, those that are there, they do not understand.

But for one unforgettable moment, the curtain is pulled back and they see the glory of Jesus.

And so I've titled this morning's message, The Trailer of the Transfiguration.

And so, congratulations, you are here at AMC Unity.

Um, we we hope that you got your popcorn on the way in or some donut holes, whatever.

We're better than the movies because we allow you to bring food in.

Um, but we have been going through this series in Mark and about the gospel of Jesus through Mark's account.

And this passage that we are going to dive into this morning is um is slightly difficult and I think intentional with our pastor, you know, because he wasn't here this week, and so he's hey, I'm gonna give it to you, Pastor.

But I'm gonna need you guys to be with me, to pray for me, to give me some grace.

But my prayer ultimately is to answer this question.

Who do you say Jesus is?

That is my hope.

That as we dive through this scripture this morning, that we will be able to answer this.

But my question to you now is who do you say Jesus is?

Who's that to you?

Who is Jesus to you?

I'm not curious to I don't I don't want to know about what your spouse says about Jesus.

I don't want to know about what your friends say about Jesus.

I don't want to know about what your family say.

I don't even want you, I don't want to I don't want to give you my answer, and then you say, oh yeah, that's what I say.

I want to know who is Jesus to you?

And if you've been with us, we we see that this is a question that has already been asked.

Jesus asked his disciples, hey, who do you say I am?

And we we get this wonderful answer from our brother Peter.

And let me tell you, Peter is someone who we are going to be talking a lot about today, and I can appreciate Peter because I think that he is real.

And I don't know about you guys, but uh I've messed up a ton.

And and and what we see with Peter is that he's authentic and that he messes up, and so he answers and says, You are the messiah.

And Jesus says, You're right, you are.

But when Jesus explained that Messiah, that the Messiah will suffer, be rejected, be killed, Peter tried to correct him.

He said, Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait a second, wait a second.

That's not what I thought when I said that you were the Messiah.

And how often do we do the same thing about Jesus?

We try to make Jesus fit our image.

You know, we try to shape him into the version we want.

A Jesus who will agree with our opinions, a Jesus who blesses our plans, a Jesus who never challenges the parts of our life that we don't really want challenged.

But friends, we do not get to make Jesus into our image.

We receive him as he is revealed.

And how has he shown himself?

And so if you get lost at any point of this message, this is the main point.

I'm giving it to you.

I'm gonna tell you who Jesus is and what we're going to do.

And so stay with me, you can't leave, I'm still holding you.

But this is the main point of the message if you get lost.

It's this see Jesus for who he truly is, listen to him, and follow him through suffering to glory.

I believe that we are going to see Jesus for who he truly is.

We're gonna listen to him and follow him through the suffering to glory.

And that question, who is Jesus to you, is so important because the way that we view Jesus changes the way that we trust him, changes the way that we worship him, and changes the way that we follow him daily.

So I hope that we can answer this question this morning.

And so we are going to start off in Mark 9.

We're gonna read the first 13 verses and we're gonna dive on right into it.

Let's go.

It says this truly I tell you, some of you who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.

After six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up on a high mountain where they were all alone.

And so, to understand this fully, we have to know that back in Mark 8, Jesus has just told his disciples that he is going to be rejected, he's going to be killed.

And listen, if you follow me, you gotta take up your own cross.

And this was not the image that they had in their mind of this Messiah, the Messiah that they were thinking, and was going to be an all-powerful and almighty king.

He would rule over Rome, not this one that is going to be killed and raised.

And so what we see here is that Jesus is not going to hide difficult truth from us.

He's not going to hide this difficult truth from us.

But I do believe we see this though.

He does give us hope.

Jesus always gives hope.

And so as we're continuing on, Mark gives this time marker.

He says, after six days.

And that might seem small to you, but you have to understand that Mark is usually the gospel of immediately.

I mean, he almost never dates anything.

And so why now is he is he pulling out this calendar and having a marker?

Well, I believe that it is because that he said that he's going to keep promise.

Jesus said that he was going to keep this promise, and that some that are standing there are going to see the kingdom in power.

They're going to see the kingdom come with power.

And this sum that we see there in verse 1 is Peter, James, and John.

The VIP disciples.

Not actually, they're not VIP disciples, but we do see throughout the Bible that they do have a little bit of a special access of getting to see some things that all the other disciples didn't get to see.

And we don't necessarily know why, but we can trust all knowing Jesus for why he did this and his reasoning.

But we do know this about Peter, James, and John.

They love Christ.

They love Jesus.

And so they're receiving this difficult news that the Jesus, that that the true Messiah is going to be killed?

Is going to be rejected?

I'm sure that this was unsettling to them.

You see, we have all experienced moments where we get some terrible news.

And then it feels like on top of our terrible news, something else happens.

And then something else happens.

And then your check engine light comes in on your car.

I mean, it's it's like we keep getting bang, bang, bang, you receive the diagnosis, you lose someone you love, your marriage begins in struggle.

And one of the worst pains of all is that your child is hurting and you don't know how to help.

It is possible that there are people in here that have experienced this.

And so when you are in the moment, you know, it feels heavy in the moment, and you need people to do something.

You need someone to give you hope.

And what Jesus is about to do up on this mountain is that he's going to give these three men, I believe, hope.

And they're going to have a preview of the glory on the other side.

My friends, God may not resolve every single one of your problems in your life.

But I can tell you this: that if you belong to Jesus, your pain, your sin, death, it does not have the final word.

It does not have the final word.

And so this take-home truth that I want you to take home and to remember is that in Christ, hope always has the final word.

In Christ.

Hope always has the final word.

But you let's read that again.

It says, in Christ.

And so just because you're here this morning doesn't mean that you're in Christ.

Just because you serve on Sundays doesn't mean that you are in Christ.

Just because you give doesn't mean that you are in Christ.

To truly be in Christ is that you have you are fully trusting Christ.

You are fully trusting him through your hard times.

And so as we we go through this, we are going to see this one thing is that Jesus is offering hope to those that are in Christ, but also for you that is here this morning that doesn't know Jesus.

So let's continue on.

Verse 1 promises of the preview.

Now in verses 2 through 4, and we see that this trailer, this glimpse, this beautiful thing is about to start rolling.

Let's continue on.

There he was transfigured before them.

And his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.

And there appeared before him Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

So come with me.

Right in front of him, these these three are seeing Jesus being transfigured.

Meaning his outward appearance is being transformed into this brilliant light.

You guys can remember back in February, we had a snow apocalypse.

It was amazing.

But one of the one of the things that I can remember is that that perfect snow.

And when you are out there and that sun shining on it, it was so, I mean, it was so blind.

You had to have sunglasses or you were out enjoying it.

And this is the way that my brain can comprehend it.

And it doesn't even touch exactly because it is on a completely different level.

In the other gospels that share the story, they say that Matthew says that Jesus' face was shown like the sun.

Luke says that his clothes flash like lightning.

And throughout scripture, we can see that this brilliant light and dazzling white clothes mean the glory of God.

We see that right there in Daniel 7 that his clothes were as white as snow.

This is talking about God in Psalm 104 that God wraps himself in light.

And so what is the what how do we comprehend this?

And I think the point of comprehending is that this is not earthly.

There's no earthly explanation for this, that this is just a supernatural glory of heaven shining right out of Jesus.

So what?

Why is that so important?

Because my friends, these disciples that was with Jesus, these three men, you know, Jesus had done some incredible things.

He has healed, he has done godlike things, but he didn't look like God.

He was still just an ordinary human, his physical form, at least.

And so now they're seeing this just this godlike form come out of their friend Jesus.

You see, they had seen Jesus get tired.

They had seen him hungry.

They had watched him walk down dusty roads, they had watched him sit down and eat, and they had watched him sleep on the back of a boat.

And so this man was a first century carpenter.

And now he's being completely transformed into this god-like imagery that they had never seen before.

And so it is miraculous.

And so this asks this question, though.

Did Jesus turn into God?

Did God say, you know what, Jesus, you have been doing an awesome job.

Congratulations, you're getting some divinity.

I don't believe so.

I don't believe that Jesus becomes God on this mountain.

I believe that his outward appearance has changed and his hidden glory is now becoming visible.

Philippians 2 tells us that the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, remained fully God while taking on a few a fully human nature.

That he humbled himself in the form of a servant, but on this mountain, on this trailer of this that we are seeing right here, his divine majesty is being revealed.

And it was pulled back, the curtain had been pulled back to see wow, this is who Jesus is.

He had been this the whole time, and he's finally letting them see this.

And as if we continue on, he says that he had been transfigured, but not only that, that he was talking to two people: Moses and Elijah.

And if you are a first century Jew, you're you're you're I mean I mean, you guys aren't reacting, but let me tell you, they were, I'm sure, because they were thinking these are two men of Hall of Fame of faith right here that we are seeing.

Moses, the the person that led his people out of slavery?

God's people, and then uh the the the great Elijah, the the the prophet here?

I mean, I mean, this is extraordinary that we're that we're seeing.

But why them though?

Well, I think these are two important key figures throughout the Old Testament, and this is a story and promises of hopes of the Old Testament that have been leading to who?

The Messiah.

They have been leading to Jesus.

You see, we in Luke, it gives us a little bit more details than it does in Mark.

In Luke, it tells us that that they were talking.

Let's read that.

It says, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.

They spoke about his departure.

Hang on to that word, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

And so this word departure in the original Greek means exodus.

Oh, hey no, we I we I think I've heard of that word.

It's it's close to it, exodus, which is the story of what I just said of what Moses has done.

And now, thousands of years later, Jesus is about to accomplish his own exodus through his death and resurrection, freeing, delivering people from sin, death, and judgment.

And that's something that we all should say, amen for.

You see, we can't miss this.

Moses, Elijah, Jesus, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, two Hall of Famers, and then the goat.

I mean, it's it's it's an incredible thing to look at, but but we can't think for a second that they are equal.

They are not equal.

You see, these two were pointing towards the way for what Jesus was going to fulfill.

And so as we continue on, we're we're going to see that that they're not equal, but but that that God is going to show that Jesus is greater.

Continuing on in Mark in verse 5, it says, Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, is it good for us to be here?

Oh, let me back up.

Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.

Let us put up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.

And so this is where, again, let's appreciate Peter.

Let's appreciate his realness, his authenticity for just just being him.

Again, I believe that he reveals that that that's who we are.

That we have messed up.

And we we see here that Peter was, he didn't know what to say.

And so uh he just said, hey, hey, hey, rabbi, it's it's good that we're here.

It's good.

What about this?

What if we uh what if we stayed, stayed up here?

What if I what I'll build you a tent, I'll build you a shelter, I'll build Elijah a shelter, and I'll build Moses a shelter, and we'll all stay up here.

My friends, good life lesson right here.

If you don't know what to say, it's okay to not say anything at all.

But Peter, being Peter, he had to interject.

And Mark doesn't give um give this this information here, but Luke tells us that they were about to leave.

That Moses and Elijah were about to leave.

And so that's where we can see, okay, maybe maybe this is what Peter is thinking here.

This is this is what I have gathered.

We don't know exactly why he said that he was going to build these shelters for them.

But from the from the scholars that I have read behind, this is the stance that I'm gonna take.

I'm I'm thinking Peter is thinking this.

You know what?

I'm going to make this moment last a long time.

And so uh, whatever I can I I think about a kid who is is hey, hey, it's time for bedtime, immediately they start throwing every single excuse of why they shouldn't go to bed.

Hey, uh, uh, I'll I'll brush my teeth four times a day, I'll do this.

I mean this is how I can visualize Peter a little bit, but we have to go, it goes a little bit deeper than that.

Is that Peter just been told this is awful news that his friend is the Messiah would be rejected he was going to die?

So maybe Peter wanted this moment right here because he didn't want to face the reality of what was actually about that.

My friends, how often do we freeze a good moment just so we don't have to deal with our actual problems?

You don't do that, do you?

My fellow Christians, you probably grew up and you probably went to you went to church camp.

And church camp is wonderful.

Or maybe you you you've been in Christ for a long time, and so you go to conferences.

You're even going to God's man or or woman's woman's what woman would have for God.

Oh I don't even know, but a woman conference.

And you love it because you are surrounded with people that love you, you are surrounded with people that love God, but then Sunday comes.

Camp is over.

Then that conference that you just have this spiritual high is about to be over.

And maybe, maybe you even say, Man, I wish that I could just just do this every single day.

Or maybe my friend that is here right now and you are lost.

And you have tried to build your shelter on trying to escape.

You've never been to a conference.

Your shelter that you you are building each week so that you can escape is going downtown.

Maybe it's drinking, maybe it's partying.

You know, maybe you are burying yourself and your work trying to chase the next achievement.

Maybe it's another relationship, another purchase, or endless scrolling.

Maybe it's even respectable.

It's your career, it's the boat.

It's sitting in here without surrendering to Christ.

These two moments right here that we we are seeing, they're trying to make it last.

Oh, I want church camp to last forever.

And if church camp lasts forever, then I am going to be good for Christ.

Or to my lost friend, oh, I'm just going to escape and I'm just gonna have fun, though I'm just gonna keep doing it, and and and that'll last.

These are two different shelters here.

These are two different people, but with the same heart.

Give me relief without requiring surrender.

Bills, breakups, a job you hate, an emptiness you can't shake.

And so, what do you do?

You escape.

But shelters only do one thing and it's distract you for a moment.

You see, Peter being up on this mountain was good.

I mean, I mean, Jesus had a reason for bringing him up there, so it it's good that he did this, and so but Jesus, but Peter is having this mountaintop moment that that he is wanting to keep forever.

But emotional highs will never sustain us.

Jesus himself can, and he calls you to keep following when the feelings fade.

Now, as we continue on, we're about to see what God is about to say to Peter.

And then a cloud appeared, verse 7.

A cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud.

This is my son whom I love.

Listen to him.

Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

In the Old Testament, we we we can we can read and see that this cloud is not weather, but that it is the glory presence of God Himself.

And we see that God Himself says this: this is my son whom I love.

Listen to him.

Listen to him.

You see, Jesus is greater than Elijah.

Jesus is greater than Moses.

The Father just said, This is my son, whom I love.

Listen to them.

No, no, no, no, no.

Listen to him.

Jesus is greater.

And Jesus and God right here is saying, Peter, Peter, listen, dude.

Listen to my son.

And this listen is not just what you got, what you were doing right now.

It's an act of obedience.

It's not just a one-time thing.

It's listening when it when it when it confronts your plans, when it changes what you had in mind.

And the Father says, Stop creating this plan.

You're correcting my son.

But listen, he must suffer.

And rise.

Believe him.

Listen to him.

And so for my brothers and sisters who genuinely love Christ, stop chasing good moments and start listening to the Son of God daily.

Stop chasing just camp high moments and start listening to the Son of God daily.

Listen to him when he tells you to forgive that person.

Listen to him when he tells you to call out your sin.

Confess it.

Confess it to your wife.

Confess it to your Bible study.

Confess it to a pastor.

Confess.

Listen to him when obedience costs you your comfort, your reputation, your plans.

The mountain was never meant to be the destination for them to stay.

It was never meant to be that.

All that it was supposed to be was to give them hope and to prepare them.

And so for my friend, that is still lost.

You are here this morning and you are building your shelters and different things.

Yes, you try to escape what hurts.

But I'm here to tell you this morning that it will not forgive your sins.

It will not change your heart.

And it will not save your soul.

Friday night good, Monday morning empty.

What you need is a better shelter.

And we're going to see that the shelter that you need is in Christ.

What did Jesus do now?

We're going to see that in verse 9.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

They kept the matter to themselves and discussing what rising from the dead meant.

And they asked him, Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?

Jesus replied, To be sure, Elijah does come first and restores all things.

Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?

But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wish, just as it is written about him.

And so what do you normally do?

What do you naturally do after you just experience something awesome?

What do we like to do?

We tend to we want to tell people.

Almighty.

Not this Messiah that's going to be that's gonna suffer, it's gonna be rejected, it's going to be killed.

You see, we're gonna work we're going to see throughout Market that these disciples they didn't understand it, they couldn't.

They didn't get it.

And so Jesus is telling them, listen guys, don't say anything.

Because if they came down and then they're announcing glory, no cross, no empty tomb, they would only mislead others about who Jesus actually is.

You see, this this beautiful, amazing, miraculous, glory-filled story of the transfiguration of Jesus is only fully understood in its right time.

First, suffering, and then they could share.

And so these disciples, they say, but you know, they're trying to find loopholes, they're trying to really understand it, and they say, hey, what about Elijah?

They know the Old Testament, they know that in Malachi 4, um, verses 5 and 6 that he would come before the great day of the Lord.

And Jesus says, Hey guys, Elijah, he's come.

Not in this reincarnated Elijah, but in John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of the power of Elijah.

And guess what happened to him?

John was imprisoned.

John got his head chopped off by this evil, wicked queen.

And so if John is supposed to be this messenger of Christ, this forerunner of Jesus, imagine what they are going to do to Jesus himself.

He's gonna suffer.

Suffer.

Suffering becomes, suffering comes before glory.

They're coming down off of that mountain.

They're up there on that mountain, the cloud rolls away.

Moses is gone.

Elijah is gone.

Jesus remains there with three terrified men.

And he walks with them.

And that same thing is happening still today.

It's that Jesus is walking with his people through hard times.

But let me tell you, you will have hard times.

You will have persecution.

It says this in 2 Timothy 3.12.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Meaning, you cannot follow a crucified Savior down a comfortable road.

You can't do it.

Nowhere in the Bible do we see Jesus say, hey, follow me, it's gonna be easier.

Never.

It is not found.

So let me ask you this question.

Where is following Jesus costing you something right now?

Where is following Jesus costing you something right now?

And you say, Jordan, I I don't I don't really know if I there if there's anything that it's really costing me anything, and I think that's worth noting.

Because we we have to understand that if we're going to answer this question, who is Jesus?

Then we have to understand and know that Jesus is not just this easy Jesus, this glory-only Jesus who makes life easy.

No, we have to understand that Jesus is the true crucified risen Jesus who whose path goes through suffering to glory.

That is who Jesus is.

That is who our Lord is.

And if if you are living life right now and there is nothing that is costing you for him, I might highlight that.

I might ask you to evaluate your life.

And so as we continue, we finish here where this trailer comes to the full circle.

You see, on that mountain, Peter, James, and John, they got this preview of this glory of what is to come.

But I have some great news for you today.

We are on the other side of that premiere, and we know what happens.

We know that Jesus walks down that mountain, that he heads straight to Jerusalem, and that he completes his exodus, and he dies on the cross.

For you, for you, for us.

And we know something too, that he did not stay dead.

You see, he accomplished the greater exodus.

Three days later, he walked out of the tomb alive, and that is not a trailer, that is something that we are living in today.

And I'm gonna give you some even better news is that there is something even greater to come.

Is that Jesus' people, there is going to be one day that you will have no more pain, no more hurt, no more sorrow.

You're just gonna be with Almighty, glorious God for eternity.

Is that you though?

If you've never trusted Christ, stop running, stop hiding in shelters that will not save you.

Turn from your sin and believe the good news and come to Jesus.

He is not merely just a good moment, but he is someone that will forgive your sins, give you a new heart, and give you eternity.

Would you pray with me?

Jesus may never remove all of your pain in your life.

But because Jesus rose, suffering will not have the final word.

And so who is here this morning and say, Jordan, I have I have been putting shelters up, I've been trying to escape, and you know what, I've realized that it's not satisfying.

Who would who who would be honest and bold and say that and say, you know what?

I want something greater.

I want to experience what truly means to live for Jesus.

I want to experience that this freedom that he gives to those from sin.

I don't want to go to hell.

I want I want to have glory forever.

And if that is you this morning, I'm gonna challenge you to raise your hand and to be bold.

So I can just pray for you.

I'm not gonna call you out, not gonna say, hey, hey, come find me.

Just want to pray for you.

And we praise God for his grace and mercy and for what he has shown us and for this promise, because I didn't see no hands, that one day we know we will win.

So let us thank God for being a suffering savior.

God, we love you and we thank you, and we thank you for what Jesus did on that mountain and showing and giving hope, and we thank you for the times that you have given us hope and hard times of life.

We thank you that you give a peace that passes all understanding.

So even though we we walk through the valley of shadow death, Lord, we know that you're with us.

And for my friend or friends that are here this morning that that maybe weren't being truthful, Lord, I pray that your spirit will will come to them.

And Lord, that they will experience what you truly have done and what you're doing and what you're going to do.

Lord, I love you and I thank you so much for this word.